CCF UK was proud and honoured to support our International Royal Patron, HRH Princess Michael of Kent as she celebrated the launch of her latest book, A Cheetah’s Tale at the Royal Geographical Society this week.

The evening’s celebrations were held in the historic Ondaatje Theatre where over 400 guests took their seats to listen to The Princess as she was interviewed by Adrian Phillips, MD of Bradt Travel Guides, on how as a young girl she successfully reared an orphaned cheetah before releasing it into the African bush to live in the wild. This experience had a profound impact on the young Princess and was the start of her life-long passion for these endangered big cats and her drive to secure their future.

The Princess spoke very knowledgeably about the threats facing the survival of the cheetah today, including the impact of the illegal wildlife trade which sees hundreds of cubs tragically taken from the wild for the exotic pet trade and the heavy toll human-wildlife conflict takes on the remaining population. She also highlighted some of CCF’s programmes that aim to counter these threats, referring to our founder Dr Laurie Marker – who also attended the evening – and how her pioneering methods such as our Livestock Guarding Dog Programme with Anatolian Shepherd dogs is proving so successful, it is now regarded as the blueprint for the protection of livestock and big cats.

Speaking to Majesty Magazine, The Princess said, “My Africa experiences are a part of my life that I have always wanted to keep within my close circle of family and friends…I have been persuaded to write of my experience raising a cub in the hope that by sharing this I might help to save some space for this elegant, extraordinary but endangered animal in its natural environment.”

The evening was a great success and we were delighted to see so many familiar faces and welcome new friends to our CCF UK family.